Transaction Payment Instrument

Abstract

A transaction payment instrument, used in purchasing a retail quantity of a fungible commodity; the instrument comprising (I) a prepaid commodity portion and (II) a promissory cash-equivalent portion. Preferably, the prepaid commodities portion is backed by futures and/or options for the fungible commodity. The promissory cash-equivalent portion is cash, check, credit card, cash card, prepaid commodity unit card, proof of identity for conducting a commercial transaction, or the likes. The transaction between the customer and the retailer typically includes the customer (A) causing commodity credits to be transferred to the retailer wherein this transfer represents the customer bartering a substantially identical quantity and quality of a commodity with the retailer in exchange for that quantity and quality of that commodity; and (B) paying the retailer for all peripheral charges associated with the physical delivery of the physical commodity—and these charges may include refining, processing, distribution, marketing, tax, etc.

1 . A transaction payment method, comprising the steps of:
 (a) electronically accepting, by a secure central transaction processor, a transaction request to purchase a quantity of a fungible commodity, the transaction request comprising:
 (i) a first group of data concerning the authorization of a customer account, 
 (ii) a second group of data concerning the authorization of a retailer account, 
 (iii) a third group of data describing a quantity of a fungible commodity being delivered by a retailer associated with the retailer account to a customer associated with the customer account, and 
 (iv) a fourth group of data quantifying a service charge associated with a sale of the quantity of the fungible commodity; 
   (b) validating, by the processor, the first group of data and the second group of data;   (c) electronically transferring, by the processor, the quantity of the fungible commodity described by the third group of data from the customer account to the retailer account; and   (d) electronically transferring, by the processor, an amount of cash quantified by the fourth group of data, from the customer account to the retailer account.   
     
     
         2 . The transaction payment method of  claim 1 , wherein the quantity contained in the transaction request is a metric selected from the group consisting of: number, volume, weight, energy content, and nutritional content; and the commodity contained in the transaction request is selected from the group consisting of: crude oil, heating oil, aviation fuel, diesel engine fuel, internal combustion engine fuel, hybrid engine fuel, bio-fuel, natural gas, methane, propane, acetylene, a liquefied gas, a petroleum refinery product, a precious metal, a strategic metal, bottled water, and a commercially traded commodity having an ongoing short term or medium term or long term futures price on a government regulated commodities exchange. 
     
     
         3 . A transaction payment instrument, for use in an electronic communications facilitated transaction for purchasing a retail quantity of a fungible commodity, comprising:
 (a) a memory media having securely encoded thereon:
 (i) a prepaid commodity portion that represents an account containing a credit for a quantity of the fungible commodity, and 
 (ii) a promissory portion that is equivalent to cash. 
   
     
     
         4 . The transaction payment instrument of  claim 3 , wherein the memory media further comprises at least one item from the group consisting of: general customer account authorization data, customer account authorization data specific to an account containing a credit for a predetermined quantity of the fungible commodity; and customer account authorization data specific to an account used for making payment of a promissory cash-equivalent demand. 
     
     
         5 . The transaction payment instrument of  claim 3 , wherein the memory media is selected from the group consisting of: radio-frequency identification tag, credit card, secure data storage card, printed coupon, and biometric measurement device. 
     
     
         6 . The transaction payment instrument of  claim 3 , wherein the promissory portion that is equivalent to cash is tied to a monetary instrument having an ongoing short term or medium term or long term futures price and having an ongoing linkage with a national or international currency. 
     
     
         7 . A transaction payment method for exchanging a commodity using a transaction payment instrument, comprising the steps of:
 (a) presenting, by a buyer, a transaction payment instrument comprising:
 (i) a prepaid commodity portion that represents an account containing a credit for a quantity of the commodity, and 
 (ii) a promissory portion that is equivalent to cash, 
   (b) accepting, by a seller, said instrument;   (c) requesting, by the buyer, a quantity of the commodity;   (d) deducting, by the seller, from the instrument:
 (i) a credit for a quantity of the commodity corresponding to the quantity requested, and 
 (ii) an amount equivalent to cash and corresponding to a bundled cost associated with the sale of the quantity of the requested commodity, wherein the bundled cost is selected from the group consisting of: profit, a marketing charge, a delivery charge, a service charge, a storage charge, tax, a processing charge, and a difference between the prepaid price represented by the prepaid commodity portion and a current retail price for the requested commodity; and 
   (e) delivering, by the seller, the requested quantity of the commodity to the buyer.